In Another Spiral
by Psianabel
Summary: "Sometimes things turn out to be different. Every spiral is a new beginning." Story collection of Type 0 week 2015 on Tumblr. Sice/Seven centric. Day 7: Freedom
1. Beginning

Seven rubbed her eyes as she entered the shared girls bathroom of Class Zero in Akademeia. She was usually the first in the morning to be here; that way she could enjoy the quietness of the morning – on of the perks of being an early riser – but today it wasn't like that; today someone else was here already. Sice stood in front of a sink, a toothbrush in her hand, weary eyes and her hair already put up in this messy ponytail of hers. It was unusual to see Sice at this early hour, but Seven didn't make a big fuss out of it; they still had to acclimate to the new surroundings here, because they just occupied the dormitories only a week ago, and maybe some daily rituals and behaviors changed because of it.

"Good morning." Seven greeted her.

" … eurgh. Mornin'" Sice grumbled in return, her mouth full of the foam of the toothpaste.

Getting a "morning" out of Sice was a miracle, so Seven didn't even expect a "good morning"; that would definitely be an odd thing and if it hadn't have a sarcastic undertone, she would have been very worried.

Seven came to a halt before she turned to her own sink and eyed Sice. The girl still wore her pajamas and together with the lazy brushing teeth and tired look, it screamed that Sice wanted to be in bed again. … Or she just wasn't a morning person.

But there was one thing that Seven noticed.

Was her hair always … that messy in the morning? And those spikes in the ponytail – were they always that pointy? And her bangs looked different … not that much as you would notice a difference at first, but there _was_ a change, but Seven couldn't quite find out what it was. Was is always like this and she didn't notice it before? Or was it today _really_ different?

"You done with staring?"

"Huh? Oh yeah." Seven turned her eyes away when she noticed Sice's stern look on her, as if she had done something bad, and faced the sink to finally start doing her morning routine. "I just … I just noticed that you hair is different than usual."

"What?" Sice looked up in the mirror and examined herself. She raised an eyebrow. There was nothing unusual; her bangs are in place, her ponytail is set up perfectly and the hair didn't bother her, so everything seemed fine. But Sice knew that Seven notices unusual things in other people, sometimes even before said person saw it on their own; it made Sice a bit concerned, but she shrugged it off, because she _really_ couldn't find a difference. There was nothing unusual with her hair, it was _always_ like this.  
She shook her head and with that she continued with her morning hygiene.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Seven just hummed and dropped the topic, still unsure what to make all out of this.

-x-

The next morning started almost the same. Seven was surprised to find Sice _again_ that early up. But then again she did too yesterday, so maybe she tried out a new sleeping schedule for this new situation. Seven greeted her with a "good morning", but this time Sice only nodded to her through the mirror and for a brief second their eyes met.

It was only short, but Seven could still see those light blue eyes that looked directly to her, or more like _in_ her. Were they always that blue? This icy blue color reminded her of the sunny blue sky from where she was a little kid, even before Arecia took her in. She felt losing herself thinking about that particular color … it stung in her heart and she immediately clenched her fist over her left breast, not knowing what else to do.

Seven only snapped out of her dream world when she realized that Sice was again staring at her through the mirror and she narrowed her eyes, as if she was asking her what the hell she was doing. She shook her head to get her eyes away from Sice and went over to the sink beside her, with her heart still aching and being confused what just happened.

-x-

On the third day Seven didn't even bother to look up to Sice, who of course stood already in the bathroom like the previous two days. She didn't want to have another confused morning, though she still didn't even know why she was confused in the first place. Sure, the hair could have been a bit strange … but thinking about it now Seven couldn't remember what the difference was between the usual her and the hair she had two days ago. And the incident yesterday … well, she thought about it a lot over the day and tried to understand it, like she always want to understand all kind of thoughts. The only conclusion she came up with is that she missed the peaceful looking sky. With the war going on the sky was often filled with heavy smoke and made the sky more gray than anything else. Maybe it reminded her of better days – not that she remembered much of it – but it _could_ be an option, and right now she stuck with it, because she couldn't explain it in a different way.

Seven mumbled a "morning" this time as she stepped in front of the sink to get on with her morning hygiene. She looked tired, she figured, but with a bit food in her stomach it would be alright. Sice didn't say anything as Seven accompanied her, she just shrugged and went on with brushing her teeth. It wasn't like she wanted to talk anyways, especially not with a toothbrush sticking in her mouth.

Things went on quiet and normal. Sice was almost done with her routine – she had to hurry up though, she didn't want to run in to even more class members – and in a hurry she didn't even notice that she accidentally dropped her hand a bit too far to her side and touched Seven's hand which lied on the surface on her sink. Sice immediately relocated the hand and didn't say a thing, not even a sorry, and carried on like nothing happened.

Well it _was_ just an accident, but Seven still felt her hand on her own; the warmth of her touch still lingered and with that feeling the confusing came back from the days prior. Why had a single touch such a big impact on her, out of no where? She touched her before, well, that happens when you train together, but she never felt _this_ _fire_ before, not even when she was full of adrenaline and felt like her heart was about to burst from excitement.

But this here was different. It somewhat felt similar, but definitely not the same and that frightened her on a level she couldn't explain.

When Sice left the bathroom without a word – like usual – Seven came to a halt and recapped what just happened. She couldn't pin point it, only listen to the feeling she had inside her that left her confused.

And it would haunt her for the next weeks, she was sure. Because this was just the beginning.


	2. Flames

Sice's COMM ringed as she looked for a new way to their destined point. It wasn't easy – the battlefield was hot and the sight was blurred because of the smoke and ash in the air. A building crashed right before them and blocked the path of the alley they wanted to use and swirled up even more ash in the air.

Sice coughed. With all the background noise she had problems even understanding the information she got. Deuce on the other line of the COMM coughed too and her team had apparently the similar problems. The COMM shut off and Sice looked at the way where they came from, eying an heavy breathing Seven standing far back, who already took a few hits and had visible minor injuries.

The hot air burned in their lungs and in combination with the ash it was even harder to breathe.  
Sice frowned. The situation wasn't going well for them, they already lost their third party member – Queen – to a sniper, but that setback didn't stop them from carrying out their mission The mission came always first and they would do anything to achieve that.

"We have to get back, huh?" Seven shouted to Sice, reading her right from far away. Sice wanted to reply, but she was cut off by a noise that made her cringe and shudder.

Boom!

She knew that noise, she heard it too many times and was burned in her memory, so instead of shouting a reply she turned to her right side where that noise came from and her suspicion turned out right.

"Ah shit," she huffed under her breath and inhaled deep to a shout, ignoring the pain of her lungs because of the burning air, "Seven!" she warned, but the heavy shot of the bazooka already made its way to the girl.  
Everything went so fast and yet Sice could see every second very clear. Her mind went blank and her instincts began to take over; her sight still blurry, but her body moved on autopilot now. With speed she ran over to the soldier who carried the heavy weapon to keep him from shooting another time; her scythe materialized in her hand as she ran and with a growl she stroke out.

Slash! Slash!

In two blows the soldier went down, yelping for help for the last time in his life, but the groaning voice was cut short as Sice harvested the phantoma of him, crushing the body that slumbered down on the pavement. With deadly eyes she looked over the splattered form and dematerialized her weapon again. Why she didn't see the soldier in the first place was a mystery to her. He must have been hiding between the ruins of the building, Sice mused. But now the thread was gone.

She shook her head; it was just another soldier, she killed so many of those already in this war, this was nothing new. He shot Seven … or was he? She couldn't remember.

"Seven …" she turned around again and saw the girl's body lying on the ground, blood smearing her back and face, but it appeared that she was still breathing, even if it only was light and slow. She must have been hit hard and got blown away by the force of it; she coughed blood now and her life energy got lesser and lesser every passing second. It didn't look good for her.

Sice could go on with her mission and leave her behind – having a very injured member in the group would slow the mission down very much and getting it done was the highest priority they had; should Seven die, Arecia would revive her once the mission is completed – but then she remembered the message she got from Deuce over the COMM.

"Shit." Sice mumbled and ran over to Seven while preparing a cure spell on the way and when she got there the healing spell flooded right through Seven, stopping at least the bleeding. "Damnit." She cursed again and knelt in front of her as another cure spell hit Seven. This time the magic showed results and the girl finally opened her eyes now, her vision blurry.

"Mother?" Seven whispered in a rough voice. Sice looked confused, but she shook her head, getting what Seven meant.

"No, you weren't dead. You're still on mission and got bloody hit."

She prepared another cure spell; in this state Seven was now she couldn't get up let alone move away from this place – they _had_ to move, they were still in the middle of the battleground and every minute new soldiers could arrive and knock them both out.

A feeling of relief flooded through Seven as Sice's cure spell hit her again. Her wounds were finally closed, but the exhaustion and weakness still lingered in her bones and muscles, hindering her from going on.

"Come here." Sice said and before Seven could react in any way, she was lifted up and literally thrown on Sice's back. With a grunt she pressed herself at Sice, albeit confused, but she went with it and threw her arms around Sice's neck. The girl in return grabbed her thighs left and right beside her hip to hold Seven steady on her back.

With giving Seven a piggy back she walked away from the open field, placing carefully one feet after another to get used to the weight on her back without tripping and falling over.

Which wasn't as easy as it sounds.

"Damn you're heavy." Sice grunted and lifted the girl up again, because she slightly slid off her back.

" … Because I'm taller than you."

It was just a faint whisper, but for Sice it was enough to react with a smirk.

"Look who can finally talk again. I saved your ass."

Seven nodded in understanding. " … Thanks."

"You owe me one." She huffed. Speaking while walking with Seven on her back and breathing this heavy air was _exhausting_ ; but she had to go on and find a safer place to rest for at least a few minutes, enough for Seven to catch her breath.

"Why did you save me? Without me you could have finished the mission by now already."

"Because," Sice shook her head. It wasn't true; without Seven she _couldn't_ go on. "Because I need you."

"Need me?" Seven raised an eyebrow. This was the last thing she expected for Sice to say. She thought about things like "yeah I saw you were still breathing" or something similar, but not something … something _interpersonal_. Or was is it even interpersonal? Or did she just wish it was that way?

Seven sighed. Sure, the two were good friends, they shared a lot free time together. Seven was the only one who could put up with Sice's harsh words and opinions without telling her to shut up, since Seven wanted to know and understand what was going on in her head. And because of that Sice might think that Seven was the sanest person around Class Zero and that was the reason they were considered close. Sice might be a lone wolf, but she knew that Seven would be there for her in case she needed it.

But maybe Seven just interpreted too much in it now, because she couldn't believe that this was the real reason she saved her.

She laid her chin on Sice's shoulder and closed her eyes for a few moments. There was it _again_ , this little aching in her heart she encountered in the first week upon arriving Akademeia whenever she was around Sice. It was … like a little flame that stayed inside her and burned stronger whenever Sice made such innuendos which probably weren't even innuendos at all. Thinking about it now terrified her; she didn't know what to make of all of this.

 _I should ask Mother what is wrong with me._

"... I needed to save your ass because without you I can't finish this damn mission and I would gladly do that." Sice said after a while and huffed as Seven slid down her back again.

These words drew Seven's attention. Wait, did she just said that because she noticed what she said before? How … _wrong_ it sounded in her ears?

"Look," Sice continued when no response from Seven came, "Deuce told me they got big problems of their route with snipers and warned me about them. You know how I can't deal with those ranged cheaters when they are too high up in buildings. And that is why-" She stopped walking when they reached a corner of an alley, hidden behind ruins of wrecked houses that blocked the sight from potential appearing soldiers. She let Seven down and placed her against a wall. "-that is why I need you, because with your strange sword-whip-thing or whatever this is you can knock those idiots out and we can finally get the hell out of here. Because I'm sick of this air."

Seven slumbered against the building when Sice finished talking. Now she understood the reason why she saved her. Why else would she have done it. _You're thinking about this too much again. Focus on the mission and get going._  
She sighed and closed her eyes to embrace the slow healing magic that flooded through them whenever they rested up. It was a blessing from Mother, or so she told them, and Seven was more than glad that this kind of healing actually got rid of the exhaustion, because this is the only thing that still hindered her from going on. Or so she thought.

And that constant pacing from Sice in front her didn't make things going faster, as much as she wished.

Being around her didn't help much either. There was still that flame in her chest whenever she even looked at her now. It was ridiculous how fast this flame spread in her body; it was scary to her.

All she wanted to do was to react on the feeling, a feeling she didn't even know what it was, but it felt _good_ and it was distracting her from the nasty things around her.

Seven lost herself in the hot feeling and with every passing second her thoughts wandered more and more around the person that was the cause of this whole mess inside her. She wanted to reach out to her, touch her hair, make her _smile_. Even thinking about it made the flame grew stronger and Seven couldn't do this anymore. She had to go on, they were still on the mission and this was way too distracting.

Minutes must have passed, because Sice got impatient and tapped her foot on the ground now, arms crossed. She hated waiting – especially relying on other people strength – but it was necessary and she knew that. Even though she could see that Seven's exhaustion got lesser and lesser, she had a feeling that there was something else that kept her from going.

She tilted her head as the girl finally pushed herself up and took a deep breath, her purple eyes looking dead serious.

Sice smiled. Now this is what she wanted to see, her companion was finally ready to knock everything down whatever they got in the way.

"Ready to kill some White Tiger brats?"

But instead of an "yes" or something close to it, Seven walked over to her, suddenly a hair breath away from her.

Everything went so fast, but this time Sice couldn't really recall what exactly happened. Seven must have tilted her head and placed her lips on her cheek, because she still could feel a warmth radiating from there through her body. Her eyes widened. Of all the things she imagined this wasn't what she expected. She still stood dumb fooled on the same place and Seven walked already away, drawing her weapon with a smile on her face. "Now I am."

Sice turned around and wanted to shout something to her, because she didn't want to drop this topic now _and_ she wanted an explanation, but Seven was too far away by now and ran along the alley.

"What the _hell_. Get your ass over here and explain yourself … Seven!"

Seven heard her of course and chuckled at the attempt of calling her.

She didn't want to explain. She only reacted on the flame inside her which now was satisfied and gave her a nice warm feeling in her chest, instead of the painful heat she had before.

At least for now.


	3. Trust

The first hours after a mission were always the hardest. Everyone in Akademeia had to come down first before the regular schedule could start again. Cadets of every class ran up and down the hallways, making sure that everyone of their class made it back in one piece ... or not. Confirmations of loss needed to be made and all reports had to come in first before final conclusions could be announced. Important things that everyone needed to follow, otherwise nothing would run properly and the war would be lost in the first place.

But all this didn't bother Seven right now. From the Entrance she made her way to the dormitories, almost ignoring cadets and every other one on her way who congratulate her on succeeding the prior mission. She only nodded in acknowledgment when she noticed the compliments she got – that should be enough right now, because she had other things in mind. Her head was still dizzy from the mission, but it will pass soon, she knew. It always did.

Mother made it clear too when she was at the medical check up and gave her thumbs up for being in perfect health. And when Mother said everything was fine then Seven believed it.

She turned around to a small hallway where the portal to the dormitories where. The one for Class Zero was a bit more hidden and only Class Zero itself had access to it, of course. With a blank mind and a straightforward look she made her way to her destined point

The portal ended in a small round lounge with two hallways splitting up there, the boys occupied the rooms of the right wing and the girls the left one, each member having their own room. Four sofas stood in the lounge and on one of them lied Eight and appeared to be sleeping. It was a normal sight though, he usually preferred to sleep here instead of his room after a mission.

Seven looked around a bit and only saw the sleeping Eight, no other Class Zero member. Everyone else should be doing their special after-mission-routine, like she was about to do, so of course no one else was around. They had a habit of their own, some would spend their time outside to relax, others would sleep for a while or some would search a talk with other cadets. They might be raised the same way, but they were still individual in their own habits.

With quiet feet she walked down the hallway of the girls dormitories, her ears only taking note of some chatter coming from Cater's room. Apparently Deuce and Cinque kept her company like usual and talked away the adrenalin that still ran through their veins.

But Seven didn't grasp the conversation of the girls, even though the walls of the rooms where thin and usually every word was heard that was spoken. Her focus wasn't set on her surroundings, especially when her mind was already set on the routine she was about to do.

After she got back from the medical check up with Arecia, her routine involved looking for Sice in her room. The girl usually went straight to her room and blocked every single one out. Well, that wasn't that unusual for her, but after a mission it was more extreme. She was more snippy and brash and the other Class Zero member understood that they shouldn't bother her at all. Though they knew Sice, but if she needed space then they let her.

But Seven was always concerned about her. Sice wasn't _normal_ after a mission and it hurt Seven to see a friend in pain. And Sice was hurting, she could feel it.

Usually Sice got back to normal after she spent some time in company with her and so it became a regular thing, even though every single meeting was different and hard for both. Sometimes they just sat together in silence, sometimes Sice was too pent up and Seven took her to the arena to relieve to overloaded stamina. Seven hoped that the last option didn't happen today, because honestly she was tired and didn't know if she could keep up with Sice right now.

She reached the door of the girl's room and knocked with her knuckles.

"Sice?" she asked to check if Sice was really was there.

But no answer came.

Seven reached for the door knob anyway, surprised that it was unlocked and stepped in Sice's room.

The sight in front of her caught her breath. She was prepared to see Sice like _this_ , but not as much as she was right now.  
Sice sat on her bed, like she expected, her legs hanging over the edge of the bed, her gaze was drawn on the ground, but most important was the malice that swirled around her body, engulfing her in a deep crimson color. It was always the malice that made Sice so snippy after a mission – until it was gone no one really dared to speak to her, knowing the result if they tried it.

The malice was a gift and yet a curse, it made her stronger to no end, but the absorbed hatred of the enemies was the price she had to pay. Seven didn't really know how it worked, she knew that Sice benefited from the absorbed hate on mission, but once the mission was over Sice didn't know what to do with the pent up aggression she carried on her shoulder because of the malice. She was too quiet and it felt like she was about to snap any minute. And it pained Seven to see her that way.

Seven closed the door behind her. The click felt like a thunder echoing through the room. She saw Sice twitching at the sound – her senses were always on high alert and every noise felt like a needle pinching her ear when the malice danced around her body.

"Sice?" Seven called out again. She wanted to make sure if it was okay to step near her, if Sice even felt ready for companion right now.

"I've heard you." came as a response. Seven took it as an invitation and slowly stepped closer, taking careful note on how Sice reacted. Her hands gripped the edge of the bed, turning her knuckles almost white at the force of the grip, and so Seven decided it was probably not a good idea if she sat beside her on the bed. She opted to sit on the ground instead, cross-legged in front of her. Sice's eyes were still fixated on the ground, but Seven saw her eyes moving for a split second, knowing that Sice acknowledged her position now and that it was okay to sit there.

It was silent for a few minutes, only the chirping from birds outside clanged through the room, neither girls knowing what to talk about. Seven watched her the whole time, Sice might not speak with words right now, but her body language told Seven enough she needed to know.

The malice was _draining_ her, it made her weak if she wasn't able to let that anger out, it made her tense as if she was going to slay everything that was in her way. Her eyes left any emotions except for anger and hate. How she was able to bottle this all up Seven didn't know, but she understood why Sice needed this quiet time after a mission. She needed time for the malice to fade, somehow.

"Hey," Seven ended the silence, her voice a bit unsteady and nervous and Sice slightly twitched at her sudden voice, "Mother told me that the mission was a success. … That we did well and that she is proud of us. I thought you might want to hear that …"

Well, it was a start to end the silence, right? Apparently it wasn't.

Sice's knuckles only dug deeper in the wood of the bed, making it crack by the force of her hand. The malice danced wilder around her now, glowing pulsative, and boiled her more up – yes the mission might be a success, but at what price, Sice thought. _I can't handle this, this-_

"Sice." Seven spoke again as she noticed Sice changed behavior. Oh no, she didn't want to make it even worse as it was, she just wanted to tell her that everything around her was alright now, that she didn't have to worry about a thing. _Bringing the mission up was probably not a good idea._ "Mother also told me that she is especially proud of you."

"What?" Her knuckles loosened the grip and gained normal color again. "Why does she talk about me with you?"

Well, at least she got Sice to talk now, even if it wasn't the friendliest way. Seven opened her mouth, but closed it again to think about the answer she wanted to give her. Honestly, she didn't questioned at first, but now …

"I guess she knows that I check up on you before you go to her."

Sice released a deep breath and sunk her head even more. Did Arecia notice that she had problems with the malice and that she couldn't shrug it off so easily like she always said? If it was the case she didn't want to face Mother anymore, she didn't want to come off as weak and as someone who needed help.

"... I see."

"Hey now." Seeing Sice all that broken made Seven's heart ache. The last thing she wanted that Sice blamed herself for all this. Seven couldn't do anything against it, the malice was Sice's gift and she had to handle it, but Seven could make it at least a bit better for her. She shifted a bit to sit on her knees now and turned fully to Sice, reaching her hand out to touch Sice's gripping one. The malice around her suddenly grew stronger at the touch, but slowly calmed down again as Seven swept a thumb over her knuckles.

Sice felt warm … and the malice danced around Seven's hand too now, but it only fueled the warmth from her. It was almost like the malice accepted her touch and Seven breathed a sigh of relieve that Sice didn't snap because of the gentle gesture.

"Mother … she trusts in you, okay? She wouldn't say that if she wasn't." Seven cleared her throat and noticed that Sice stopped digging her nails in the wood, the muscles in her hand were relaxed now and Seven could easily take her hand now in her own, which she promptly did. The malice was still swirling around the holding hands, but it grew weaker with every passing minute. Seven wondered though if it was because of her touch or if Sice still proceeded the stuff she just said. She heard Sice chanting _something_ , but she couldn't figure what it was, she only noticed it when she saw that Sice moved her mouth. Only after a while she finally understood the low "Mother trusts me, Mother trusts me ..." chant Sice muttered under her breath over and over to herself. It seemed like she wanted to remember it forever, she wanted it to burn it in her mind – a reminder that she was still value no matter how weak she thought she was.

Seven slightly tucked on her hand to get her attention and Sice gave her that, stopping the chanting now as she lifted her head up.

"And … I trust you too." Seven words were almost a whisper, slowly fading in the silence of the room. There was it again, the flame that burned in her heart whenever her thoughts were drawn to Sice. She swallowed hard when she realized that she still held Sice's hand and slowly withdrew it then, sinking back again on her knees to await Sice's reaction.

And Sice's reaction was a smirk as she closed her eyes and turned her head to the ground again.

"So I figured."

It was the moment the malice stopped dancing around her and as it seems also the moment Sice finally got back to her senses. She lifted herself up, standing right in front of the kneeing Seven and held out a hand for her, symbolizing that Seven should stand too. The girl took the invitation and lifted herself up, eye to eye now with Sice. The latter still smirked, but her expression dropped in a serious one then.

"I feel like an idiot after every mission." She crossed her arms now and looked in Seven's eyes. "... so thanks for putting up with me."

Seven let out a shaky chuckle and ran a hand through her hair. She was relieved that Sice got herself together again, even though she didn't do much this time.

Actually she was surprised that the single mention of trust brought her back, but it seemed that this doubt made her feel bad, that she felt she wasn't good enough to work with the others. The doubt fueled the malice and the malice in return let her doubt grow more and more. It was a cycle that had to be broken and Seven was glad she figured that out.

"Yeah sure, no problem. … That is what friends do, right?"

Sice following laughter brought back the burning flame inside Seven, again. It didn't hurt, it was more like a wonderful warmth pinching her chest.

"Right, this is what friends do."

She turned around now and glanced at the clock standing on her desk, promptly making her way to the door now

"I need to go to Mother. She … probably waits for me already."

Seven looked after her, already feeling the loss of heat in her heart, but she understood. Medical check up was important, even though she wanted to spend more time with Sice right now.

"Okay."

"And, hey Seven?"

"Huh?"

Seven noticed the smirk Sice gave her when she looked over her shoulder to her.

"Why did you kiss me on mission?"

 _What?!_

"I uh...! I … eh."

She definitely wasn't prepared for _that_. Dumb fooled and nervous she tried to form an answer, but Sice already cut in with a chuckle.

"Right, I see."

And with that she left her room, cape flying behind her every step and left Seven alone in the room, who still tried to proceed what just happened.

Maybe it was more than trust what Seven wanted to give her. More trust than Mother could ever give her. … More of everything anyone could give her.

Seven was sure. One day Sice would see that there is someone around her who wants to give the world to her. A world where Sice would never have trust issues again.


	4. Joy

When Cinque knocked on Seven's door and asked her if she was interested in a girls sleepover to celebrate the success of the last mission Seven didn't hesitate one second and gladly accepted the invite, even though Cinque didn't know if everybody wanted to come because she hadn't asked everyone yet. But Seven didn't mind at all - having a little bonding time with the other members, especially after a long tiring day, was very well appreciated by her and honestly she missed the days were all twelve would come together and spent their little free time together Arecia gave them.

Now it was only the girls, but she appreciated it none the less.

It was around 9pm when Seven changed in to her pajamas and grabbed a blanket and pillow to prepare herself for the sleepover. She threw the blanket over her shoulders to make it look like a cape and while she tied the ends around her neck she wondered if everyone would show up. Cater and Deuce would definitely be in, otherwise Cinque wouldn't be asking. Queen probably too, she actually liked the company of the quirky girls, even though she always said she liked her privacy and rather spent her time sticking her nose in books.

Maybe Rem would come, too? She knew that Cinque and Deuce wanted to involve her in their usual routine to get to know her better and a sleepover would be the perfect opportunity to just to do that.

And for Sice … well, Seven hoped that she would show up. On one hand, she wanted Sice to get her mind off a few thing and break out of her closed shell and have some fun with them, and on the other hand she really wanted to spend some time with her - even though the others would with them too. She didn't mind that, she just wanted Sice near her, especially after the last mission.

A few weeks ago Sice made a huge step in getting her malice under control after a mission and today she made such good progress again. Seven gaped when she entered Sice's room to check up on her, only to see Sice standing in the middle of the room with crossed arms and a smirk on her face – and without any malice swirling around her. She was _proud_ of her, amazed that she managed to control the malice without any support from her.

They shared a close hug and Seven could feel Sice's happiness engulfing her whole being. And that is why Seven was sure that Sice would show up today, there was no reason for Sice _not_ to show up.

When Sice was happy she usually showed it on the outside and shared her positive energy, though those times were seldom, but today was such a day and Seven couldn't wait to see her happy.

One last time she ran her hand through her hair, closed the door of her room behind her and made her way to Cinque's room, pillow tucked under her arm and the blanket-cape flying right behind her.  
Cinque's room was the first one on of the girl's hallway of the dormitories of Class Zero. And by the laughter and noise Seven already heard on her way to the room she was sure she wasn't the first to arrive.

She knocked on the door and Cinque promptly opened with a sunny smile on her face.

"Sevsky! Now only one is missing. Come in!"

"Hey." Seven greeted them when Cinque closed the door behind her after she stepped in.

The room was already occupied by Cater, Deuce, Rem, and Queen who all fumbled with many blankets to set up some kind of tent over Cinque's bed and the floor. Queen currently sat on said bed and gave instructions to Cater who balanced herself on a chair to knot one end of a blanket on a string that hung half way across the whole room. Deuce seemed to be done with her side of setting up the fort and Rem prepared the floor with fluffy pillows.

"Hey Seven!" Cater waved from high up and almost tripped and fell off if it weren't for Rem who had quick reflexes to hold her steady. They both sighed a breath of relieve when Cater held her balance again and continued attach the blanket on the string with a peg.

"You still need a blanket?" Seven asked and she offered her pillow Rem who immediately tucked it away to the other pillows the girls brought with them. Deuce nodded and took Seven's blanket to attached it to the front of the fort to make some kind of entrance.

"Okay now we only need one more blanket and we are done." Queen's voice echoed from the inside of the fort.

"Yeah, I hope Sicey will show up soon, then we finally have a nice girls night again!"

"You think she will come?"

"Of course she will. She said to me she just wanted to prepare something so it might take longer. I'm sure she holds her promise."

"Okay." _Prepare something? What?_

"Until Sice shows up … come sit with us, Seven, we have some soda and cookies."

"Sure."

Sitting a circle together on soft pillows, eating cookies and drinking soda, talking and laughing … Seven missed this. Since they arrived at Akademeia and lived on the campus now, together with the mission to win a war, there wasn't much time for this anymore. So she appreciated any minute of this even though she was already tired from that long day.

Rem also seemed to warm up to the girls and shared her stories of her life at Akademeia as a cadet. How she trained hard to get accepted and how she met Machina after a few years, even though he was a cadet almost as long as she was.

If only Sice was here, then it would have been perfect for Seven. _Where is she._

"Hey Seven?" Deuce poked Seven's stretched out legs.

"Hm?"

"You seem to be spaced out."

"Oh um ..." She scratched her head and took a bite from a cookie. "Well, I was just-"

"Thinking about Sice probably." Queen cut in and grinned when Seven shot her a mean look.

"What?!" Seven exclaimed and almost choked on crumbs of the cookie. And again Rem was there to save the day and patted her on the back to help her, Seven nodded a thanks in return. "What did you say?"

"Oh nothing. Not that important." But Queen's grin still didn't vanish.

The other girls only shared a look and shrugged, knowing that Queen loved to spread new gossip and took every chance to do it. They usually liked her strange new stories about the observation of other members, but they also know that it was very impolite to spread rumors of someone who sat in the same room. And so they dropped the topic and continued to laugh about their jokes from before.

But Seven wondered – Did Queen know about her _crush_ on Sice? Was is really that obvious and easy to see? Well, she shared a lot of time with Sice together … after a mission, when they had problems with classes, at lunch … _Yes okay I get it, I might spend a lot of time with her, but that is what friends do, right? Nothing else. How did Queen-_

"Hey guys, I hope I'm not late to the party."

A very familiar voice to Seven broke the laughter of Cinque and Deuce as Sice stood finally in the door, balancing three bowls in her hands which looked like they were about to fell off, the blanket draped over her shoulders – similar of what Seven did – and her pillow tucked in her armpit.

"Sicey!" Cinque jumped up in a flash and confronted Sice. The fidgety girl swung open her arms and stood still for a moment, returning her arms in the previous position as she saw Sice with all that stuff in her hands. And, well, giving Sice a surprise hug wasn't a good idea either. "You finally came!"

"Yeah I told you I would prepare something. Here."

Sice hinted the bowls she was carrying, making Cinque suddenly squealing and clapping her hands together.

"Aw you brought popcorn?" She reached for the bowl that balanced on top of the other two and took it in her hand, making her way back to the other girls. Sice followed her and opted for a seat beside Seven who smiled her welcome, glad that Sice showed up at last.

With Sice's blanket and pillow the fort was finally completed and gave a nice warm and cozy feeling, especially with the smooth light coming from Cinque's desk lamp. She actually wanted to bring candles to make the atmosphere even better, but Queen told her no and said she feared that it might end in a sea of flames should one candle fall over for whatever reason. And so she decided to stick to the light of her lamp on her desk. It wasn't bright enough to illuminate the whole room, but bright enough to let out a soft cuddly atmosphere.

"How are you feeling?" Seven asked Sice when she settled on her place after she handed her bedding to the girls, referring to earlier this day where they had their after-mission-talk. "Still good?"

"Yup. Haven't felt that great in ages." She smirked and elbowed her. "And that's only because of you."

"I uh-" Seven could feel Queen's gaze bore in her back. _Think of something, hurry._ "-I didn't do much, you know that. And this was all your doing, so don't thank me, thank yourself instead."

"Nah, c'mon Seven, you know that-"

"Woah, where did you get popcorn, Sice? And it's so _tasty!_ "

Sice turned her head to Deuce who already munched a handful of the popcorn she brought.

" … I just asked in the canteen."

"Did you _ask_ or did you stand there until you got popcorn?"

"This is both asking for popcorn, I have no idea what you're talking about."

Everyone started chuckling, knowing exactly that when Sice wanted something she got it, even if she had to wait a while or be persistent to get it.

"Okay guys, do you want to do anything?" Cinque tried to change the topic and clapped her hands together.

"Well, we could talk like we did in the past."

An union nod was shared between the Class Zero girls, except for Rem who tilted her head at them.

"Don't you have a hologram-monitor?"

"A what?"

"It's uh … it's a thing where you can watch videos on it. It's a common thing actually, every family has one. And at least one of every class owns one. I know for sure for example that everyone in Class Ninth has one."

"Videos? So like this big thing at the wall in the Central Command?"

"Hm." Rem scratched her head, confused that they didn't know what this basic thing was. "Yes kind of, only smaller so you can put it in a normal room. You never had one?"

They all shook their head.

"Well no." Cater cut in, "Mother had one I think? I never knew the name of this thing, so I don't know for sure. But we never really watched something on it. Maybe once in a few month, but for me it was always boring."

"What? Really?"

"Yeah, we rather had some time together and talked. We were too tired after training anyways."

"I see."

Rem didn't ask further, she didn't _dare_ to ask further, even though she was curious what Dr. Arecia did with them the whole day. They always talked about intense training sessions and nothing else, of course it let Rem wonder. But she didn't know them well enough already to ask about their mysterious past, so she dropped it for the better.

"Hey, will you stop hogging my popcorn!" Cater threw her arms in the air and ripped the popcorn bowl away from Queen who already took a handful of the food while they all discussed with Rem.

"Wha-" She chewed and swallowed. "It's _my_ popcorn, too. You have to share. Besides, if it's anyone's popcorn, then it's Sice's."

"But- Look how much you've already taken!"

"Cater, calm down, it's just popcorn!" Cinque reached out to her shoulder to keep her from attacking Queen. "Besides, we still have some cookies."

Seven helped Cinque to hold the trashing Cater and finally sank back, while Queen stuffed another handful of popcorn in her mouth and stuck her tongue out. Sice only slapped her hand against her forehead at the silly behavior of the girls.

"Guys, we wanted to have a nice girls night, so no fighting, okay?" Deuce said as she offered Cater her popcorn who appreciated that very much and shot a mean look to Queen.

Seven returned to her place beside Sice then, reaching out to the popcorn bowl without looking at it beforehand. She should have though, because she accidentally reached out for it at the same time as Sice who appeared to have not looked at it either. The former girl twitched and clenched her hand to a fist from preventing to touch her again and mumbled a "Sorry, you first".

"Nah, here." Sice offered her the bowl and for a brief second Seven could see a hint of a smile on her lips. A _real_ smile, not a smirk, not something sarcastic, a smile that came from her heart. Seven bit on her lip on the inside to prevent herself from blushing too hard and took the bowl gladly.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome."

It was just a little moment between them, really, but these few seconds fueled Seven's heart so much with joy, the flame inside her flickered and shot a nice warm feeling through her whole body. Sice's little smile, her gentle touch … she even said you're welcome. Her heart fluttered and didn't realized she was still staring at Sice's eyes; these intense blue eyes were something she could be lost in it.

"Uh..."

"You okay, Seven? You seem tired."

"I am, actually." She finally drew her eyes away from her and turned to the bowl. "It was a long day."

Sice only nodded and turned her eyes to the girls sitting in front of her who appeared to be laughing at something while she had this little moment with Seven.

"Deucey is ticklish!" Cinque giggled and threw herself on Deuce who immediately shrieked and fell over by the force of the girl; thankfully Queen was there to rip the bowl of popcorn out of her hands from preventing it to spill over.

"No, Cinque!" She cried out as Cinque tackled her and grabbed her sides, holding her steady when Deuce trashed under her to escape her hold. But they both giggled, Deuce more because of the tickle attack than anything else. It was really a cute sight and together with Cater's cheering for Cinque and Rem's laughter mixed with Queen's snorting, Seven and Sice were dragged in in that moment of happiness. They couldn't help it and laughed with them; Deuce's forces giggle was contagious and she just _couldn't_ stop.

Queen now started to poke Cater in the sides who almost shot right through the fort – she never expected Queen to poke her, let alone tickle her. Cater tried to defend herself though, she even manged to land a few pokes herself on her, but Queen didn't have such an intense reaction like she had. She twitched, yes, that was it, but that didn't stop Cater from attacking her more and more.

With everyone busy, it was Seven's turn now. She slowly turned around to Sice with a hint of a smirk and Sice immediately backed away, knowing exactly what will come now.

"Oh no, don't you dare."

But it was too late; Seven attacked her with speed and managed to grab her, even though Sice tried to escape she ended up under Seven, laughing and trashing to get her off. But Seven's grab was strong and Sice had a hard time to breathe through all that laughter.

Sice's laugh was music in Seven's ears; she never imagined to hear Sice laughing _that_ much, let alone that she was ticklish after all. It was a nice feeling, something she knew she would treasure for a long time. It didn't sting in her chest, but the flame inside her was more that satisfied at the sight right before her.

Seven was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't realize that Sice managed to get her hands off her – with a low huff she fell on top of Sice and the girl quickly turned them both around to switch the positions – now having Sice on top of Seven and with that grin on her face, Seven knew she was doomed.

She was more than ticklish and Sice would definitely find that out now.

Sice's assault was merciless; grinning down on her she enjoyed the show she got from Seven who had trouble to even think straight. Her laugh was rich and almost drowned the laughter of the other girls who in the meanwhile were bundled up in one big pile of tickling monsters.  
Sice snickered at Seven's attempt to get rid of her hands and tickled her even more, leaving her breathless struggling under her. Even though it was adorable, Sice knew when it was enough and only a few seconds after her final attack Sice removed her hands from her, letting Seven finally breathe again. Both of their faces were flushed and both were out of breath, but they were _smiling_ , happy that they could share such a rare moment together.

"You okay?" Sice asked her after a few breathes and helped Seven sitting up.

"Yeah, I feel good." She punched Seven against her shoulder. "You dork."

"I didn't know you were _that_ ticklish. Didn't expect that."

"Well, yeah ..." Seven ran a hand through her now totally tousled hair. "Learning something new everyday."

The other girls meanwhile also stopped their tickling-attack, lying crisscrossed on the fluffy pillows and out of breath.

"I didn't have so much fun in ages." Cinque exclaimed and threw a fist in the air. "My stomach hurts … that was awesome!"

"Yes it was." Deuce agreed. "We should do this more often again. You in, Rem?"

"I am!" She responded, still out of breath. "But I'm really tired now."

They all sighed together, agreed that they were tired and more than ready to go to sleep. It was a long day and they were on their feet since the early morning because of the mission they had. Though they haven't spent much time together now, it still was a successful late evening.

Cinque yawned and stretched herself on the place she was currently lying, not to be bothered by Deuce who was sprawled across her stomach. The girl lifted herself up though and laid herself comfortably beside Cinque to let the girl have some room of her own. The others followed suit – Queen and Cater meanwhile occupied Cinque's bed since she didn't want to use it as it seems, and the bed was big enough to have space for two persons; it was perfect.

"I hope you won't kick me out." Cater said to Queen when she grabbed a pillow from the floor to place it on the bed. "I remember some stories."

"That was _one_ time." She responded and huffed, "and it was _years_ ago."

"Yeah yeah."

"Do you have enough space, Rem?" Deuce asked Rem when she made herself some space and looked a bit overwhelmed.

"Yeah I think so. Have you often slept that way?"

"Well kind of. We were always together, so ..." Deuce tried to explain.

"Hm, I see."

"I take this spot here." Seven said to Sice, pointing to the far end of the fort where the blankets made up the wall and laid herself close to it.

"M'kay. I just …" Sice occupied the space right beside her, carefully taking note that she left enough space for Seven, after she took care of the bowls of popcorn and placed them outside of the fort. "That okay?"

Seven turned to her and eyed the lying girl beside her who turned her head straight up to the ceiling.

It has been a long time since they all slept like that. Before they arrived at Akademeia and settled in the dormitories here they all slept very close to each other under Arecia's supervision. No one ever questioned that – they just didn't knew it better; they were raised like this and so they saw nothing wrong with it. It was also a way to get close to each other, to form a bond to all Class Zero members and this situation brought back the memories and feelings from back then. They felt _save_ , it brought them comfort and safety and that was important when you have to stick together – especially after a stressful mission this bonding time felt very good to them.

"Yeah, that's okay." Seven's eyes were sleepy already, through all that tickling she didn't even notice that her entire body screamed for sleep. She saw through her half-lidded eyes that Sice already closed her eyes and was more than ready to go to sleep, too.

She whispered a "good night" and everyone responded to her with an equal sentence and settled finally for sleep.

After a few minutes Sice was already deep in the dream land whereas it took a while for Seven to get there, too. Her eyes still lingered for a few minutes on the sleeping girl beside her, fascinated by the steady rise and fall of her chest. She winced a bit when Sice suddenly turned to her, mumbling something in her sleep she couldn't point out what it was. Her hair hung in her face, probably ticking her face and it took Seven all her willpower not to reach out and tuck the strand away that moved at every breath from her.  
Eventually she did it anyways, she just _couldn't_ resist and only earned a little grunt from Sice – it felt like such an intimate moment, a gentle gesture Sice didn't even notice in the first place, but for Seven it was a huge leap coming to terms with her feelings.

Yes, she had a crush, and even if Sice didn't react on her feelings it still made her so damn happy to be near her. Maybe Sice will react on it one day, maybe not, but right now this moment was all she cared. This little moment of joy.

The feeling of joy was rare in times of war, but it was still there hidden in the hearts of the children.


	5. Friendship

A low huff broke the silence of the room and Seven looked up from the book she was reading on her bed. It wasn't a book she quite enjoyed reading, but she had to read it, though, and it was more or less an interesting topic, but still - it had a bitter taste, she needed to read it for class when actually she wanted to read something on her own without having to worry about exams and tests.

She held her finger on the place were she left of reading and looked up to the noise of the other person she shared her room with right now – Sice sat on a chair in front of the mirror and desperately tried to do something with her hair. Actually, she fumbled with it the past hour, but looking at her now Seven couldn't see any difference from before.

She tilted her head and saw Sice's frustrated expression through the mirror. For Seven it was an adorable sight – a mix between rage and a pout and Sice's attempt to look calm made it even better, not that Sice would ever admit that she is stressed or overstrained by this situation.

The thing is, her hair grew wild over the past few month, getting longer and spikier and now she wasn't even able to tame it anymore. Between learning and writing exams and going on missions to win a war she didn't have the time to worry about her hair at all. Now that she had a bit free time between missions she said she wanted to try something new, but apparently it didn't work much for Seven's amusement who watched the whole mess from her bed. Well, she _could_ help, but at first Sice had to admit that she needed help – and getting Sice to admitting _that_ would be a long process. She wasn't the kind to ask for help, especially if it came to her appearance which she was actually very proud of.

And so Seven waited for Sice to do the first move, watching her through the mirror while Sice tried several different things with her hair. One time she tried to clip her bangs to the side, only to realize they were way to long and thick to do that and so she released it again. Then she tried to put up her ponytail, but it ended up being a huge mess and the spikes were too heavy to hold the ponytail up and it just fell over, making her hair looking ridiculous. How she managed to do it the past weeks was a mystery to her now; she only knew that it couldn't go on like that.

She huffed again and looked frustrated in the mirror, narrowing her eyes as she noticed Seven in the background who appeared to be biting on her lip to keep herself from laughing out loud. This was way too hilarious for her.

"What are you staring at? I thought you wanted to learn." Sice remarked without turning around to the girl and held the gaze with her through the mirror.

"Oh I just wanted to check on you how far you've come." Seven tapped on her chin with one finger. "Doesn't look like you've come that far... you know I could-"

"... I can handle this. I just need more time."

"Sure thing." With that she turned to her book again and went on with reading. Sice meanwhile only rolled her eyes and tried for another new hairstyle and failed miserably, of course.

Honestly, what did Seven even expect when Sice asked her if she can spent the evening with her with trying to fix her hair. But when Seven asked why Sice would need her company she just shrugged and said she liked her being around her, leaving Seven wondering behind. Sure, they grew to be good friends over the time now, but that was _so not Sice_.

Or was it?

The Sice from the past wanted to be alone and scared everyone off who even tried to be near her. She was cold and distant, and her only emotion was being pissed off as it seemed. That or sarcastic.

Somehow Seven was the only one who could invade her, she was the only one Sice even allowed her to be near her and kept her company. Seven was there for her when a mission was over and she didn't know what to do with the pent up malice, Seven in return went to her when she had questions about a class and Sice helped her with learning. They supported each other without questioning it, it just _happened_ and felt natural to do that. Sice might have a thick head and might not be easy to get along with, but for Seven it wasn't a huge problem. She always was curious about what Sice was thinking and therefore she wanted to understand her where others would just give up and shake their head at Sice's brash remarks.

It was like they were two different poles, a hot headed girl who was like a bundle of rage and her calm pole who kept her in place when she was too bottled up inside.

And so they became good friends, balancing each other out in every situation they were put in and managed to get to a point where they couldn't be separated anymore.

Sometimes Seven imagined a life together with her, but it was just a haze of a dream, something that built in her mind as a perfect result of all the feelings and memories she shared with her. If her dream would ever come true, she didn't know, she didn't even know what she wanted to do should the war be over, should that ever be the case. Okay, she had a vague idea, but if she was able to pull that off was another thing. One can only dream.

But dreaming about her perfect future was always nice and it warmed her heart, satisfying the burning flame inside her with wonderful images of said dream.

Seven shook her head as her mind wandered again, noticing that she indeed read the page of her book, but she couldn't remember what it was about. She sighed and decided to go back to the beginning of the page again to memorize the knowledge. But before she did that she glanced over to Sice once again who still appeared to have huge problems with her hair.

This was getting ridiculous. Seven knew that it would take a whole lot to bring Sice to ask for help, but _this_ was just too much.

She grabbed her bookmark and closed her book, swinging her legs around to hop of her bed and walked over to Sice who let another frustrated sigh out. Sice immediately noticed her and watched her through the mirror coming closer with narrowed eyes until Seven snatched her comb out of her hand and bopped on her head with it.

"What the hell?!" Sice exclaimed and threw her arms in the air and tried to steal the comb back, but Seven dodged the grab and promptly bopped on her head again. "H-Hey! Stop that."

Seven couldn't help it and smiled at Sice's clumsy attempt to get back her comb.

"I will stop if you accept your defeat."

"We didn't even fight! … Hey, ouch!"

"Do you want my help or do you want to stay with your long hair forever?"

Finally Sice sank back in her chair and crossed her arms, huffing as she closed her eyes and slowly accepted her defeat. She never really wanted to accept that she needed help, but deep down she knew that right now there was no other choice – her hair was too long and it needed to be cut and she couldn't do it herself. She had never done that before and trying that out now wouldn't be a good idea, not if she had the chance to let Seven do it for her.

"Fine, I'll let you do it."

"Wonderful." Seven grinned. "So..."

"Just … don't do anything stupid. And not too short."

"Hmm, so like before? Like when we arrived here?"

"Yeah like … like there."

Sice pointed at a photo that stood right beside the mirror. It was a photo of the two of them from three month ago in the garden behind the classroom, with Sice looking in her usual manner and away from the shot while Seven elbows her to make her even a bit smile – it actually looks like if Sice wanted to smile, but she seemed to bite herself on the lip to prevent her from smiling. It was taken on a quiet sunny day by a photographer who wanted to make a series out of the best cadets from Akademeia. Seven asked to get a copy of that photo to have a reminder of the friendship she has with Sice - the poses of the two girls were perfect and represented their relationship very accurately, it would have been a waste not to get a copy of that. Seven framed the picture and set it up in her room right beside her mirror where she got ready every morning. And it was nice to see a photo of herself with her almost-smiling best friend in the morning.

Seven took the picture and placed it right in front of the mirror, chuckling at the memory of that day and Sice seemed to notice how Seven was lost in her thoughts.

"That photo is, what, three month old? Can't believe it's been that long already." Sice said as she eyed the picture with a smirk, laughing inside at how ridiculous she looked. "And you still put it there?"

"Yes, why not? I think it's cute."

"Cute? Why is that picture cute?"

"You don't think it's cute?"

" … No."

"What's with that pause, huh?"

" … Will you start cutting my hair now?"

"Getting impatient there, Sice? Alright, just let me grab some towels, so your hair won't spill over the whole carpet."

Little banters like these happened more and more over the time now, Seven loved to tease Sice with little things like that photo, she knew how to push her and when it's too far and getting Sice's smile and laugh in return was enough proof that Sice enjoyed these little games, too. It felt like Sice loosed up a bit, letting Seven in to show her emotions she usually kept to herself. Around the other Class Zero members she still was that sarcastic brash Sice, but the others noticed the little change too, especially when Seven was around.

Her malice also wasn't that pent up after a mission anymore, indicating that Sice got herself better together and didn't worry about being a failure, because she thought of herself being weak. It wasn't like that anymore, things have changed to the better. Sice was _smiling_ after a mission now and didn't riddle herself with buts and what-ifs.

And seeing a smiling and laughing Sice made Seven happy, very happy.

Seven returned with several towels and spread them around the chair to prevent Sice's hair from ruining her carpet.

"So, okay. Now …" Seven stood behind Sice and placed her hands on her shoulder, leaning herself forward to be with her at eye level. "What can I do for you, miss?"

Sice rolled her eyes and chuckled. "Seven please. Just cut my damn hair."

"Alright, alright. I get into it."

A silence between them occurred, a comfortable silence which both enjoyed very much. Sice probably a bit more, because Seven stroked over her hair to see how much she needed to cut, gliding her fingers through the thick layers of silver strands. It was an amazing feeling, really, and when Seven noticed how much she liked it, how she almost _purred_ at the slight massage, she lingered a bit longer in the soft and smooth hair, even though she knew already how much she had to cut, making Sice relaxed and calm. Apparently Sice liked it very much when someone played with her hair, but then again who didn't.

But Seven didn't want to linger too long in her hair, she wanted to cut in and to make it not too awkward – even though she liked to play with Sice's hair - she grabbed the scissor and finally started to work on Sice's hair. She might not be a professional, but she did it a few times before - on herself and on others, too.  
It was a thing she learned back the when Arecia took her in; as the oldest of Class Zero she always felt a little responsibility to the others and when they started to complain about their messy hair, someone had to take the action in the hand. And so she learned the basics – it wasn't perfect, but at least something.

Seven carefully combed the hair, starting with the back of her head and tucked a few strands away to make room for the hair that needed to be cut. At first it didn't look like it wasn't that much, but as the time continued more and more silver hair landed on the towels and Sice's original haircut slowly appeared again. Seven was very concentrated on her task, she didn't want to disappoint Sice, and so Sice took the opportunity of Seven's inattention to watch her for once.

Somehow Sice was fascinated at Seven's focused look, how she inspected the length of each strand and cut is down to the desired one, occasionally looking at the picture as a reference. It was something else, Sice noticed, when you observe someone doing their work while they don't notice you. Sure, Sice watched her on the battlefield from time to time, but there she had work to do, too, so the time there was cut short. _Now_ she had time to look at Seven properly without being noticed and that was a whole new feeling for her.

She knew Seven had a crush on her, she would be blind if she didn't noticed that. She knew it the moment she asked her about the peck on the cheek during the mission once, but of course Seven never acted further than that, the fear that things would go in a bad direction if she confronted her with that was too big, she didn't want to lose Sice because of that - she was way too important to her as a friend.

And honestly, Sice didn't know how to feel. Sometimes there were little butterflies, yes, especially after some time alone with her after mission to get rid of the pent up malice for example, but she always saw it as a close friendship, never more. The only thing she knew for sure that she both liked boys _and_ girls, and only because of Seven supported her in figuring that out she already knew that. It was a thing they talked about years ago already and she trusted Seven with that private information. But actually Sice never thought further than that, what to _do_ with that information, and why would she though – her mind was set on war and on killing her enemies, she didn't have the time to even think about some interpersonal feelings.

She was glad she was alive and had a best friend in times like these.

But what if the war will be over someday, what if she _had_ the time to think about it. Her mind suddenly began to wander, forming an imagine of her and Seven standing side by side, just looking in the distance. A blush crept on her face when she realized what she just imagined. There wasn't blood anymore, no smoke and screams of dying people, only peace. Would that happen if the war would be over? If the war would be over would she consider it … thinking about it that there could be more … maybe?

"Okay, I'm done with your hair on the back, now -" Seven cut her off of her thoughts and Sice snapped back to the reality as Seven pushed her chair a bit back so she could stand in front of Sice. Leaning herself down, she looked at Sice's face to inspect her hair that hung in front of her. "...now for your bangs - … huh, what's wrong?"

Sice was so caught in her thoughts that she didn't expect the interruption, especially not having Seven right before her eyes when she came back to her senses. Blue eyes met purple ones and they both stared deep in the other eyes, neither saying anything for a few seconds.

 _Your eyes. Did they always hold so much emotion? Seven why do you-_

Sice held her breath as if she got caught by something she wasn't supposed to do, while Seven raised an eyebrow when Sice still hadn't changed her blank expression.

"Sice? Everything okay?"

"Uh, yeah of course. I was just …" _Have I ever told you how amazing your eyes are?_

"You were dozing off, now weren't you? Don't tell me it isn't true, I noticed that." Seven chuckled and glided her fingers through her bangs, figuring out how much she needed to cut here. Sice released her deep breath and wanted to drown in her chair, she almost said something she really would have regretted. It wasn't her style to hold back at words, but _sometimes_ she knew when it was too much. She couldn't handle this right now. What was happening?

"I won't cut your bangs that short, I know how much you like your hair there. That okay?"

"Yeah sure, just go ahead."

To say that the next few minutes were awkward was a huge understatement. Sice felt like she wanted some time alone and yet she didn't want to push Seven away; this _sudden_ change of feelings was new – way _too_ new for her as if she didn't know what to do. What was this anyways? A unforeseen new way to look at the friendship she had with Seven? It was a close friendship they had, but now … now she wasn't so sure anymore.

It was too fast and too much to think about it and with Seven near her now Sice knew she wouldn't get far with her thoughts here.

And so she tried to keep calm and swallowed the unknown emotions, keeping her steady mask alive for the time being and _hoped_ Seven would be done soon, otherwise she didn't know how to handle the silence between them. When they talked it was alright, but once the room went quiet her mind started to wander again. She closed her eyes and let Seven fumble with her hair in front of her face.

… Thank the Crystal it didn't take so long and Seven took one last look at her hair and nodded.

"Hm. Yes, definitely looks better than before. What do you think?"

Sice looked in the mirror as she inspected her hair, running her hand through it and immediately feeling the change. Seven cut way more hair away like she expected, but it was definitely much better.

"Yes! Nice. … Thanks." Sice muttered and grabbed her hair tie to get her ponytail ready. And finally the ponytail held this time and looked exactly like before – her spikes where poking to all sides and stood they way they were supposed to.

Seven meanwhile gathered the towels that lied on the ground and cleaned up the hair that she cut off.

But she didn't get far with the clean up as there was a knock on the door.

"Yes?" Seven shouted and Queen opened the door, opening her mouth to say something, but immediately closing it again when she noticed Sice.

"Am I interrupting anything?"

"Huh?" Sice and Seven shared a look and turned to Queen then. Well, they were done, so …

"Actually no. What is it?"

She cleared her throat. "There are some underclass girls at the portal who asked for you, Seven. Something about you giving them a speech."

"Ah." Seven gaped and suddenly remembered her promise to some girls on the hallway. She turned to Sice and scratched her head, feeling guilty that she forgot to tell her that. She and her weakness not to say no... "Well uh..."

"Nah, it's okay." Sice cut in and waved her hand in front of her. This was her chance. "We're done here anyways. I don't mind."

Seven nodded and left the towels on the ground, bothering about that later and left together with Queen her room, leaving Sice behind.

After the door closed Sice let out a deep breath and tilted her head backwards, covering her face with her hands and sighed.

"Why me." Sice groaned between her hands.

It was too much, her head began to spin around her, too fast and too hazy for her liking.

She told herself that she wanted to think about this kind of feelings _later_ when everything was over, when the war was over and she free from responsibilities of an cadet. But now all of sudden the feelings crashed down on her like a wave hitting her face. Where those little butterflies always there when she was around Seven? She couldn't remember, she didn't focus on stuff like this. But now … now that she focused _once_ on her damn feelings she couldn't block it out anymore. Only a little moment happened between them … just one tiny glance brought her so much over the edge, it was impossible that there weren't feelings like this before.

She was crushing on her. Hard and there was no turning back now.

Seven was the only one she spend her time with. She was the only one who talked to her on regular basis, her memories only consisted of her. She was the one who could put up with her when her malice made her _sick_ and _aggressive._ How could she not see it.

Sice removed her hands from her face and sighed, eying the picture that still stood in front of the mirror. She had to admit it _did_ look cute, but she couldn't bring herself to say that in front of Seven.

This was a hopeless situation and honestly she didn't know how she was able to face Seven now – without being obvious as hell. She needed some time to think everything over. One, to sort out her thoughts and get them in the right order and two, to figure out how to proceed from now on.

If it really made her happy then she knew she would chase that feeling forever. She knew Seven would be happy too. The way how her eyes lit up when their gazes briefly met told her enough, how Seven cared and touched her …

It was a deep friendship they shared and this friendship will continue forever, but now Sice knew she could share things with her that were much more.

Maybe love took its place now. Maybe? Definitely.


	6. Memories

It took Sice a whole month to get her thoughts together, order them to see clear to finally confess her feelings to Seven. She might have broken her promise to herself – that she think about this stuff when the war was over – but she just _couldn't_ wait anymore. How she was able to survive this month she didn't know – between hiding her emotions in front of Seven and unleashing all her pent up aggression because of the malice _and_ hidden feelings, her mind was a jumble and she lost all focus on time. But then after an intense conversation after a mission to get rid of her malice, which grew stronger again after she thought she got it under control, she _finally_ had the guts to tell her about her hidden emotions she bottled up for all that time.

And it was the best decision she ever made in her life.

The memory is a blur, she only remembered an intense feeling of happiness and joy flooding though her body when Seven smiled and wrapped her arms around her to gladly accept Sice's feelings towards her. They nuzzled their cheeks together as they hold themselves close, fueling their burning flames inside their hearts with shared emotions.

Getting comfortable with sharing her feelings from now on with Seven was another thing, she never wasn't a very emotional person on the outside, but eventually she found a way to do just that. Seven supported her through all this and together they figured out how to act in this relationship.

Together they were an even stronger pair now.

… It was only a matter of time that Sice got to feel _everything_ of Seven, her soft touch on her smooth skin, not only on her lips when they were kissing, no, but _everywhere_ , fingernails trailing down her naked body and teeth scrapping on places she never imagined to let anybody near them. She came to the conclusion that Seven was very well fond of leaving her traces on her body, marking skin that had never been touched before.

… And apparently Seven had a very persistent tongue.

-x-

A low peaceful sigh flooded through the dark room that was only enlighten from the moonlight that shined through the window as Seven turned around to a low snoring Sice, who was sprawled across over more than a half the bed they shared. The sheets were slightly drawn back and revealed the glistering skin from both under it. Several marks and bruises of all kinds decorated the body of the sleeping girl and through the dim light of the moon Seven was drawn to them, fascinated by every single one of them. Sure, she knew that these came from her, _like always_ , and yet she admired the little blue and red bruises every time.

She placed herself on an elbow and started to brush over them, carefully and almost without touching – she didn't want to hurt Sice or even wake her up, that wasn't the plan. Why she was fascinated by them she didn't really know, but when she looked at them after the heat of their bodies subsided, the memories of these activities came back to her – _how_ these marks were made an the feeling she had when Sice trembled under her when her teeth scrapped over the sensitive skin. Some of those decorated her own skin, sure, but for her it wasn't that fascinating. She wanted to see what kind of impact she had on her and, well, the proof was right in front of her.

Seven needed this time for herself after these nightly activities, she had always done that. For her it was a way to cope with important memories; memories of all kinds. Some of them were linked to the marks, others were much older and out of context, but they always came in to her mind regardless. They were connected to Sice and every memory of her was important to Seven. In this world memories of other people were precious and needed to be held close; the fear of losing these was strong and made Seven's heart ache. She couldn't even imagine losing memories of her. The Crystals were merciless when it came to the memories of the dead.

But for the time being she wanted to remember every single detail about her girlfriend and how they ended up where they were right now.

And she wanted to remember it forever.

Seven's attention was drawn to a particular bruise on Sice's neck; the red and blue color clearly visible on her fair skin and she knew that Sice would be mad about it the next morning. Sice hated when Seven left marks on visible skin.  
She chuckled. Ah yes, she could remember the first time Sice complained about it and was _furious_ ; the bruise back then was settled a bit lower than this one right now, but the memories were clear as the day to her now.

-x-

"You!" Seven looked up from her textbook at the sudden voice of the intruder. It was still in the morning and she wanted to use this extra time for learning, because, well, her evening yesterday she actually wanted to use for learning was occupied by other … activities. And now the person she spent her evening with was standing furious in front of her and she looked _pissed_.

"Good morning you too, Sice." Seven smiled and reached out to her to let her down on the spot on her bed beside her. "Is that how you greet your girlfriend?"

"Will you explain this?" She reached on her neck and let her cape loose that was wrapped around her neck. A bit above her collarbone, at the juncture of her throat, rested a big blue mark and that definitely did not came from fighting. Well, at least not from fighting out of the fields.

"Well?"

Seven just snickered and put the book in her lap to the side to give Sice her full attention. She inspected the mark with a grin.

"Hm yeah I remember this one. I haven't thought it would be that big, but come on, it isn't that bad."

"It isn't that bad?! Are you even listening to yourself?!" Sice threw her arms in the air. "Hell, it would be visible if I couldn't put my cape over it! You should consider yourself glad that it isn't more above, otherwise I would've killed you." She jabbed one finger to Seven's shoulder and pushed her down on the mattress, straddling her as Sice placed herself on top and grinned down on Seven. The latter's eyes widened as Sice leaned more and more down to her, teeth scrapping on her throat now.

"Revenge."

Before Seven knew it she felt Sice's teeth and tongue digging in her skin and she realized then what Sice wanted to do.

"Sice no! … Sice!"

But Sice already sucked on her skin and Seven could feel the blood gathering at this place. It didn't help that she trembled and trembled, but Sice didn't let go of her, only after she removed her mouth from the sensitive skin and admired her work, Seven was able to move on her own again.

"Now we are even."

Seven exhaled a shaky breath and slapped her forehead, not believing what just happened.

"You do realize that I don't have a cape to cover that?"

"Well," the girl on top now sat up and made her way out of the room, "this is your problem now. Have fun."

Seven watched her leaving and sighed. Well, there would be many questions if the didn't cover that, not to mention that no one knew that they had a thing … good for her now that she knew how to use make up.

-x-

Remembering this now brought a smile to her face. Now she can laugh about it, back then it was _horrible_ , not to mention how anxious she got because of the fear of someone might saw it anyways. Medical check ups became _awkward,_ but both Sice and Seven were glad that Arecia never mentioned them, let alone made comments on them. Seven had a feeling that she _knew,_ like she always knew everything, but the topic never came up and so neither Seven nor Sice revealed their relationship to her.

And of course there was Sice who looked more smug than ever and made innuendos the whole time to Seven, but taking note that only she noticed them. They wanted to keep the façade and be private about their relationship, because they didn't want to to ruin the dynamics around Class Zero. The behavior would have changed if they told them they were together, so they kept it to themselves until the time was right.

... Which wasn't easy of course. She remembered the time where they wanted to be near all the time – to be fair, it was normal; they were love struck teenagers and also behaved like this, it was hard to keep the hand from each other. This was also a problem when they wanted to kiss – there were always others around them who might have seen them and so the risk of getting caught was high. Usually such intimate moments were shared when they were sure they were alone, for example in the shared girls bathroom in the morning shouldn't they spend their night together anyways. They had to find the time they needed and somehow they managed it, even it meant sneaking out of their dormitories to sleep in the other ones bed.

This too brought her to the next memory she treasured very much so. Seven grinned as she looked to Sice again and found a bruise that looked almost the same as back then.

-x-

 _"Like this?" Seven's breath tickled at Sice's sensitive throat, letting the girl's own breath hitch. She squirmed under her, panting and trashing, but keeping the other girl on top of her, not letting her go._

 _"Y-Yeah, just like that." Sice's voice was not more than a whimper, swallowed by little kisses they shared. "Ughn, Sev-"_

 _Seven's heart beat faster and faster, her own nervousness turned into excitement. "... It feels amazing, you know."_

 _Sice let out a shaky grin and snorted, but her breath immediately hitched again when Seven angled her hand different now. "Shit Seven- Don't sto- ah-"_

Sice panted hard as Seven crawled from her body and laid herself beside her, a hand still lingering on her bare stomach. What she exactly did she couldn't remember, but if Sice was panting and sweating that might be a good sign, right? What she knew though that her hand cramped through out this, but she couldn't bring herself to stop. Not for her and definitely not for Sice.

"Crystals, Seven ..." Sice breathed and Seven looked up to her and found a smirking expression, "that ... wow."

Sice's loss of words made Seven's throat going dry – she too was loss of words and she honestly didn't know what to say. Was there actually something to say?

"I uh ..."

Before she could form some words in her mouth, Sice turned to her and wrapped herself around her, inhaling deep her scent. Seven could feel her sweat on her own skin now and she was still taken aback that this actually happened. The proof was right here in her arms now and it still felt so _unreal_. How could she know this feeling it it was the first time she'd ever done that.

It happened so fast and uncoordinated, the two didn't know what to do. Which was normal with no experience on this topic to rely on, but they managed it somehow to the point where they both enjoyed it.

Seven's heart pumped in her chest – a mix of excitement and embarrassment flooded through her and Sice felt the uneasiness coming from her. She placed a gentle kiss over her left breast and snuggled close to her, making Seven shift a bit, so Sice could lie on her chest now.

"Why is your heart beating so fast?" Sice whispered after a while as she noticed that Seven's heart beat didn't calm down on its own. She slowly traced different patterns over her naked chest, stealing Seven attention and drew them on the gentleness of her fingers.

"I … don't know. It's different … and new I guess."

"But … you are okay with it?" She looked up to her now with a tilt of her head, her chin laying on the back of her hands as she searched for Seven's eyes. They locked eyes and Seven gave her a shaky smile in return as she saw the concern in her girlfriend's eyes.

"I am, really."

Relieved Sice returned to her previous position and closed her eyes, listening to the heart beat, now knowing that it wasn't a bad sign like she thought.

"But I don't think I …" Sice started again and swallowed. Normally she didn't care what she when said, but right now she wanted to make sure that every word was well thought; she didn't want to ruin this moment. "I don't think I could-"

"Return the favor?" Seven ended her sentence and Sice nodded at that, unable to look in her eyes. It hurt her and Seven quickly understood that. "Hey, it's okay yeah? We don't have to … you don't have to if you don't want to." She chuckled. "I'm worn out too, you know. And my hand hurts."

"So, you're not mad?"

"Sice." Lazily she ran a hand through the girls hair. "Of course I'm not. Let's … just take it slow, okay?"

"... Thank you." She whispered for the last time before they both enjoyed the closeness of each other through the night.

-x-

It was a very precious memory to her, it was something special. Never before that she had seen Sice so loss for words, not even at their first kiss or her declaration of love. Sice always had a snippy side remark, even at those situations, but not then.  
Seven remembered the flame that burned in her heart and in that night it burned even brighter, but it felt _satisfying_ without hurting her. It felt good and she was glad that they decided to take this step.

Since then the flame only brought her joy without doubting herself, because she finally understood – Sice was hers and hers forever.

Seven lifted her head up as she noticed a shift from Sice, followed by a low growl and a long exhale. She seemed to wake up for some reason, or maybe it was just a stir in her sleep. But her eyes fluttered open and she began to stretch herself while Seven made space for that.

"Ugh, you still awake?" Sice grunted and eyed her then, nudging her to let Seven get close again. Which Seven promptly complied and laid her head on her shoulder again.

"Yes, I … was still thinking."

"Ah, you and your afterglow-memory-session. Some things never change."

Seven just playfully shrugged and closed her eyes now. It was late and she was getting tired – she didn't even noticed how much time already passed and she lost track of it. But she didn't care what time it was or how much time passed as long as she was lying in Sice's safe arms which were now wrapped around her and embraced her fully. Sice knew of course that Seven needed this remembering-phase and after a while she just got used to it. She couldn't do something against it anyways and it didn't bother her.

"What were you thinking about?" Sice asked her and ran a hand smoothly over her back. Though she felt that Seven was almost out, she was interested in what Seven was thinking; it still interested her.

" … our first time." There was no point of denying that. Sice would have found out anyway. But Sice started to grin, because she knew so well what was coming now and, oh, this was going to get good.

"What, that time where you almost screamed so loud whole Akademeia could have heard you? Oh yeah, I'm thinking about this too now."

"Sice! … No, not _that_." She cleared her throat. Honestly, what did she even expect when she brought up this topic, because she _always_ reminded her of this time … her actual first time where Sice returned the favor. It was a whole different level, again, and sometimes she wished she could have blocked this memory out. It was … down right _embarrassing_ , even though Sice told her over and over that it wasn't.

Yes, she might have screamed _a little bit_ too loud, but Sice was there to cover her mouth with her hand, because if that scream got out fully, they had no idea how to explain that. They were even surprised that no one had heard them, or so they thought.

But nevertheless, Seven just shook her head now, she didn't want to remember this now – bringing this back would be too much for her, the previous memories gave her enough feelings already. And so she snuggled up to Sice and got herself comfortable. Sleep was coming fast now and she didn't know how long she was able to hold the conversation.

"Yeah yeah, I know. It's just too much fun to tease you about it. Never gonna give up this chance. … Hey, you still awake? Seven?" Sice asked as she nudged Seven to see if she really was asleep. Only a low growl came as a response, indicating that Seven was more than ready to go to bed now.

"Well then." She continued, "good night and sleep well."

Seven approved with quick kiss before she returned to her comfortable position on Sice's side and whispered a last "Good night you too. Love you." before her body gave in to the tiredness, the flame in her heart embracing her body in a warm comfortable heat and lulled her to sleep in Sice's arms.

Tomorrow would be a big day, they needed the rest and needed to fuel their bodies with energy to take down Ingram. Tomorrow will be the day to strike down the Militesi Empire and end the war once and for all.


	7. Freedom

The war was over.

The Militesi Empire was defeated and the Dominion of Rubrum had full control over the land they called Orience.

At first the Lorican Alliance was destroyed. _9_  
Then the Kingdom of Concordia submitted to the Vermillion Bird. _9_  
And now the defeat of the Militesi Empire was the last cog wheel for summoning the final moments of this world. _9_

When 9 and 9 meet 9 – Tempus Finis shall be willed upon them.

Tempus Finis – the time where the Rursan Arbiter is said to bring judgment on the world if Agito is not found.

Agito.

Someone who is supposed to be the savior, a hero who is supposed to ensure the world's survival.

Class Zero was doomed to become Agito. Their path was set on this fate.

Or was it?

"I want you to write the final pages of yourselves." She said. "Non of you have ever chosen your own way of living – not once. So I want you to chose your own endings. This is the final freedom I give you as humans."

-x-

They did well, these twelve children who were raised for nothing more than becoming Agito. Raised as war machines, their humanity drained and taken from them and now they had to chose how they end?

How is one able to make a human decision if it never was human in the first place.

-x-

They finished their last given task together – defeating the Rursan Arbiter and bringing an end to Tempus Finis.

But now the cycle didn't end here like in previous ones. Instead it lived on due the cries of the hearts of the children.

They begged her to end this, their souls didn't want another painful experience edged in their memories which will haunt them forever. Something they couldn't remember and yet it was always _there_ , hidden and carved in their hearts and minds, never leaving them.

And she listened. For the first time in 600 million cycles she listened to her children.

"I told you to make a decision. And if that is your final decision then I will accept it."

-x-

They were more human than they thought.

When they arrived at the destroyed Akademeia again they grieved for the first time in their lives for the loss of all those cadets they lived with them together. They could remember them, all those dead bodies they saw lying in the hallways, the memories of them … they were still _there_.

"I know the name of this person."

"But how? They're dead."

"I know."

"I'm not able to dematerialize my weapon."

"Why can't I use magic anymore."

The confusion was written all over their faces. What was going on?

"I'm scared."

"Shh Cinque, it's okay. We figure something out."

"You think Mother is here?"

"C'mon, let's look for her. You coming with me?"

"Sure."

They split up, one group made their way through the halls of Akademeia to search for any information they could get their hands on. Maybe they would find survivors, too, though they didn't expect to find any other living souls after they saw so many dead bodies.

And finding Arecia was the highest priority. She could explain what was going on, she could _always_ explain things that no one in this world knew.

The other group meanwhile settled for their classroom, albeit the half of it was destroyed, but it still brought a safety – a feeling that they could have very well right now. They sat down in front of the desks in a circle, their weapons always in reach – should there really be a threat nearby they would be ready - and tried to find suitable words.

"What are we going to do now?"

"Shouldn't we wait for the others first?

"Yes, but … we can already think about some thing, right?"

They all nodded together and fell into a compatible silence.

-x-

Before they headed to Pandæmonium nature went crazy – the sky turned red, the wind was unbearable, rain felt like blood running on their skin. The temple itself was the only source of light.

But now ... the sky had cleared up and even the sun broke through the last remnants of smoke that lingered in the air, the wind felt fresh and tickled on the skin, birds were chirping and sung the song of their people.

Nature recovered fast from Tempus Finis and repaired the damage that the Rursan Reavers had managed to make in that short time period.

It felt like … like a glimmer of hope.

-x-

They waited minutes, ten minutes, twenty minutes until one of them made the first move and shifted closer to another.

Seven looked right beside her and saw Sice shifting closer to her with hanged head, their shoulders brushing now. She older one reached out to her and laid her arms over her shoulders to pull her closer. Over the course of time Sice got rather affectionate to Seven, even when other Class Zero members were around. They found it out eventually – they just couldn't hide it anymore, not after the whole class caught them kissing in a hallway - and actually found it cute how _different_ Sice acted when Seven was near.

Deuce had apparently a similar idea and moved over to Cinque and patted her on her shoulder. She cracked a little smile and appreciated the little comfort the girl gave her and snuggled further to the source of comfort – that made even Deuce smile a little.

Jack looked over to Eight who currently held his gaze on his crossed legs and picked on his shoelaces, distracting himself from the tense situation. It wasn't easy to sit still and do _nothing_ , especially not for Eight, and Jack saw his strained features and it hurt him. He playfully bopped him against his shoulder and smiled to him, immediately pulling him out of his thoughts. Eight looked up to him then, returning this little smile with a little nod and shifted closer to him, similar what Sice did to Seven, and leaned against his shoulder.

"I hate this silence." Sice mumbled as she pressed her forehead against Seven's shoulder. "Can we just … talk about something. Anything. I don't care what. Just … this is killing me."

Seven snorted in her hair, gently running a hand over her back.

"Normally you tell everyone to shut up."

"Yeah, but this isn't normal."

"So …" Deuce cleared her throat, "Have you thought about what you want to do then?"

"We don't even know if-"

But Sice couldn't finish her sentence as the other six Class Zero member returned, not looking too happy in their faces. They mumbled a bit and sat themselves down to the six that already sat in the circle, sighing when they took the place.

"I guess it didn't go well?" Seven cut the silence between them, wanting to know the result of this search. She didn't want to sit here for nothing.

"Nothing. No one is alive here." Trey began, "They either have left Akademeia when it wasn't too late or they all fell victim to the Rursan Reavers."

"We can't even check if certain people are alive, because for some reason we can remember the dead." Ace continued, "Remember that scientist who always hung out in his little room in the Crystarium? Yeah, we couldn't find his body and he is nowhere to be found. We have no idea if he is still alive or not. He could explain a lot if he was still here …"

"Mother isn't there, too. Her office is still like the way it was before, but … there is no trace of her. She is just … gone." Queen finished and everyone else sank back and sighed.

"So much for this then …"

"Wait so," Sice lifted her head up now from Seven's shoulder and waved in front of her. "We remember the dead, right?"

Everyone nodded.

"We can't dematerialize our weapons."

Again, nodding.

"We can't use magic … "

Nodding.

" … does that mean the _Crystal_ is gone?"

Everyone suddenly held their breath and uncontrolled rambling started to spread. _This was impossible._

"Queen? Was … the Crystal still there? I mean you looked in Mother's office, right?" A faint whisper from Deuce came in between all the chanting from the others who then stopped their rambling to listen to the conversation.

"I … I haven't looked. The door to it was locked, but … you're right, the impressive aura from it was gone from Mother's office."

The aura from the Crystal lingered in the air at the whole Sorcery Division. It gave an astonishing and crushing atmosphere as if the Crystal wanted to impress nearby beings by its immense power. But now … it was _gone_ , just like the rest of the things Sice listed.

"The … Crystal is gone. What … why?"

"We wanted all of this to be stopped, right? Then …"

"Wait wait wait! Does that mean _Mother_ removed the Crystal?! That's bullshit, yo! Why would she-"

"Maybe it was the only way to make our dream come true? To live in a world with peace and harmony ..."

"Well, the Crystals started the war in the first place."

"That is just …"

"... Hard to swallow, yes."

Another silence occurred and everyone needed to process this information at first. They were bound to the Crystal, they lived and worked because of it, they fought for the Crystal. And now it was gone like it never existed in the first place.

They suddenly didn't have a leader anymore, nothing they could rely on, no one who gave them instructions. To get this inside their heads was hard.

"Mother removed the Crystals because of us … for us. We should … we should be grateful for that and work from here now then." Ace cut through the silence and received approval.

"So you mean we should build our own world?"

"Yes."

Another wave of approval and nodding came from them.

"So … what do we want to do first?" Cinque asked with a finger on her cheek.

"How about we rest up for a while? The war is over … there aren't any threats anymore and we definitely could use some days off."

"Hey yo, we can't just do that … we can't just sit here and do nothing! I definitely won't." Nine leaned himself on his knees and threw a fist in the air, "If we're gonna build a new world we need to do something as soon as possible, yo!"

"What do you suggest then, Nine?"

"Me? Well, you know-" He sank back to his previous position and closed his mouth, shaking his head. "I don't know, man. Just … something! We can't just do nothing, that won't help the world."

"Wow Nine, that was the fist time you ever contributed something useful." Queen smiled and everyone else started to snicker. At least their banter will never go away.

"H-Hey, yo!"

"Have we ever thought about what we wanted to do when the war is over?"

They all looked at each other, confused and uneasy. Their minds were set on war and fighting, they barely had the time to even think about other things that they might be interested in.

"Do we have any idea how to start with … building a new world? All we ever did was fighting."

"We could start with learning new things!" Deuce raised her hand, but received only groaning.

"Learning? No, not _again._ No more exams and tests! I'm sick of this. _"_

"Not about fighting, about … how to live. How to make food for example! Why it rains and how plants grow."

"Hey man, that sounds interesting. Would be something even I would want to learn, yo!"

"I … I want to learn how to raise children." Seven cleared her throat and all eyes were on her now. "I always wanted to follow Mother's steps and … maybe raise orphaned children. With the war and all – I bet there are a few. Someone has to take care of them."

An acknowledge hum came as a response and Seven took it as a good sign.

"Well, I mean I already have some experience – I raised you all a bit, too."

Now everyone chuckled and Sice playfully punched her against her shoulder, giving her a crack of a smile, too. She was the oldest of Class Zero and took everyone under her wing to the point where she was considered as "big sister". She enjoyed her role though and everyone needed a trustworthy person in their lives – and Seven was it for Class Zero.

"You can handle this, Seven." King said to her – as the oldest male he understood her the best in this situation.

"I want to help her in the orphanage." Sice said with a hint of a smile. "I always wanted to become a chef since Mother took me in and gave me this soup … it is still the best thing I've ever eaten and I want to become as good as her one day."

Everyone chuckled and a mumbled "We all know why you want to accompany her!" came through all the laughing which Sice ended with shouting a "H-Hey!"

"Sicey should cook something for us one day!"

"Yeah you should!"

She sank back and chuckled with them now, knowing that they didn't mean it in a bad way.

"Okay, okay. I will."

"So, some of us already have some ideas what to do? Even if it's just a little dream, just say what you want to do! I'm interested." Cater cut in and leaned back, crossing her arms to think about her own dreams of life.

They might all be raised the same and yet they all have different ideas – just little things they always wanted to do in their lives and that they yet hadn't been able to do it because of the war.

Raising Chocobos.

Becoming a musican.

Continuing studying and becoming a scholar.

Traveling around Orience.

Becoming an adventurer.

Building an orphanage.

Learning how to cook and become a chef.

Becoming a martial artist.

Becoming a traveling comedian.

Becoming a teacher.

Becoming a policeman.

Some of these were just a haze of a dream, others had already a good grasp of what they wanted to do. When everyone listed what they wanted to do they were amazed of all the things you can do in a life except for fighting. They only knew war and now they had to decide what to do next and listing their dreams was one step to work from now.

"What about you, Nine? You didn't say anything."

"Ah man, I have no idea. You all listed so cool stuff and I haven't even thought about things like that."

"You don't even have the sightliest idea?"

"No. I just … I can't see myself doing anything other than fighting, yo."

"You will find something, Nine, I'm sure of it." Sice patted him on the shoulder and Nine was surprised by that sudden nice behavior from her around him. "Every idiot can do something."

… Well, that didn't last long.

"Nine, you're strong, you will definitely find something."

"Well okay then …"

"When do we start, guys?" Jack clapped his hands together and smiled. "I mean, we can't sit here forever! We need to move and get going, the world isn't going to rebuild itself on its own."

"Jack, your enthusiasm surprises me."

"What can I say? I'm brilliant."

"So what do we do first?"

-x-

They were just twelve children, reborn over and over to become one of the strongest beings in the world to serve a higher being that they trusted with their lives. Now instead of following the path of death they chose life this time – and trying to get their humanity back that they lost through over six-hundred million cycles of life and death.

But they were young and their souls strong, their will of life lingered deep in their hearts that bottled up over all those cycles and gave this world a new chance of living.

The year 842 wouldn't be the end of the world, Tempus Finis wasn't the end. It gave the world a new beginning, a new glimmer of hope.

The world would face a new era of time, a time of peace and harmony where humanity had to work hand-in-hand to achieve this goal.

The ruins of Akademeia would serve as a beacon of hope – a reminder of the heroes that lived there who brought an end to the endless war. Adorned in capes of crimson they fought for this outcome and now their path of Agito was over.

Leaving their capes behind, tied together on a pole to a flag that blew in the wind, surrounded by a pile of weapons, they made their way out in the world to learn about the things that they missed in their lives.

They got to know how the weather worked, how to grow their own food and plants, they found other survivors in other cities and helped them to rebuild their houses – making friends outside of their tight family bond they all had.

It wasn't easy at first, sometimes shadows darkened their paths, it took them long to get used to all those new feelings and circumstances, but they wanted to help, they didn't want to let the world down - not after they were responsible for this.

They strove for their dreams, their _freedom,_ worked hard for it, and eventually succeeded.

-x-

They say children laughter is the best kind of laughter and Seven definitely agrees to this statement.

Everyday now she heard that kind of laughter and every time it reminded her of what she achieved in the past years. She had grown – a lot – on wisdom and knowledge of all kinds of fields. She managed to accomplish her dream together with the help of Sice who accompanied her now on every step she made in her life. Not one single time they regretted their decision to walk along the same path. They were happy to be around each other – always and forever, even if Sice was sometimes the biggest child around Seven.

"Hey Seven?" Sice poked her head around the corner of the room and saw her girlfriend standing at the table, cleaning up the rest of the breakfast.

"Yes? What is it?"

"Hmm." Sice grinned and walked over to her, wrapping her arms around Seven's body which shifted rhythmically to her movements of the cleaning. "Nothing, I just wanted to tell you how much I love you."

Seven chuckled and poked her in the ribs with her elbow to gain some leverage to turn around and faced her, laying her arms around her neck to pull her close.

"Who are you and what did you do to my Sice."

"Aw come on, I was just trying to be romantic." Sice chuckled now and laid her forehead against Seven's, standing on tip-toes to reach her.

"Leave the romantic stuff to me." She leaned in and gave a quick peck on her lips. "And I love you too."

"Always and forever?"

"Always and forever."


End file.
